As you may have noticed, I have a couple sections for work at home jobs. First, and long established is the legitimate work at home job lead sections. For the past couple months I have had been posted unresearched work at home job leads, primarily from Craigslist, but also from other sources.

Well, I decided that it was time to combine them just a little bit. For those categories that have a legitimate section, I have taken advantage of the RSS feed of the unresearched jobs so that recent posts show up as unresearched on the legit pages.

Hopefully this will help those who are looking for a legitimate job to take a look at more of the possibilities that are out there. There is so much competition for all work at home jobs that it really helps if you can see the wide range out there.

Of course, I’m always on the lookout for legitimate companies to add, but it’s quite challenging to find companies that regularly hire people to work from home. However, they are out there.

If you’re still looking for a work at home job, keep at it. If you have one, why not join the forum and share your experience with those who are still looking?

Ariel and I are taking a class called “Math and Science Together” right now. It’s through the Ready to Learn Project, and we’re having a lot of fun with it.

Now, this isn’t heavy duty stuff… in fact, the goal is to show parents how well they can prepare their toddlers to learn math and science in school. For example, today we put vinegar in a bottle, used a funnel to put baking soda in a ballon, then put the ballon over the mouth of the bottle, dumping the baking soda into the vinegar. The vinegar fizzes up, and the balloon is filled with gas. Kids love that stuff, of course.

It’s really nice how the kids are allowed to explore on their own, and parents get ideas for what to do with them. We are separated into 4 groups, and we spend 15 minutes in each one of four rooms, and there are several projects for the kids to try in each, so there’s no pressure if your child just isn’t interested in one particular project.

This is aimed at 3-5 year olds, and I really feel that 4 is about the perfect age. When we did the Readiing and Writing Together class a few months ago, Ariel was interested in nothing other than having me read to her. I think if we did it together now she might take more of an interest in the writing and storytelling part.

There’s homework too! We’re measuring the roots of a young spider plant growing in water, we grew a bean in a ziploc bag in the window, and we get handouts with a variety of suggestions.

I think one of these days here soon I’ll make a section going over some of the ideas I’m getting from these classes. After all, what parent doesn’t need ideas to keep the kids busy?

Now that Ariel has had a little time to enjoy her birthday presents, I find it interesting to see what her favorites are. Thought I’d share some of them with you.

No surprise to me, she loved all the craft supplies. Most of the time I just let her do whatever she likes with them, although today we are working on a project from the Little Kids Craft ebook that she really enjoys. We’re making a paper plate ladybug. Just waiting for the paint to dry right now. I bought a $5 toolbox from Walmart (clear white and green plastic) and filled it with pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, pompoms, paints, glitter and so forth. The individual supplies were pretty cheap, but boy do they add up! However, since this will keep her busy much of the summer and I’d end up buying most of these over time anyhow, I consider it an excellent investment.

She also got beads, which she enjoys but gets frustrated with too.

Of the games she recieived, Hi Ho Cherry-O seems to be the favorite. She also likes Hungry, Hungry Hippos, but that one scares Gage, so we don’t play it too much.

She and Gage both love the big thing of sidewalk chalk. That’s just a nice, easy activity. It’s nice to have something Gage can do with her. Chalk doesn’t taste good enough for him to put it in his mouth very often.

Of course, the absolute favorite isn’t a toy. It’s Gus and Jaq, the two mice she picked out. We gave her a cage and Daddy took her to the pet store to decide what to put in it. Cinderella has mice, so of course my little Cinderella wannabe wanted mice too. I think Gage likes them even better than Ariel, though. He’s always been such a quiet baby, but when he sees those mice he squeals and babbles like crazy.

Other than that, she mostly got clothes, and I don’t think you need a review of those (although there are some definite favorites!).

One of the changes I’ve been wanting to get to was making the primary navigation clearer on this site. Hopefully I have accomplished it now with improved grouping, and changing the color of primary categories, so that you can more easily see the focus of various areas.

It always amazes me how long these little changes can take. i worked six years in a jewelry store, and that made me very concious of small changes in color, so I tend to spend a very long time picking colors. I didn’t want to add yet another color to the site at first glance, so I chose a green for the primary categories that I hope goes well with the green at the top of the site. It’s not taken directly from there, although I did try that solution. That gave me too light a green for my tastes.

Keeping this site user friendly as I grow it isn’t easy. Adding the new bargains section has been a lot of work; in fact, in recent months I’ve greatly increased how much work this site needs, as the unresearched work at home job leads section also takes quite a bit of time. However, as I think they greatly add to the overall value of this site, they should prove to be well worth the time. Besides, there’s something really fun about finding a great new deal or possible job opportunity that I really enjoy.

I signed Ariel up for some summer classes recently, which got me to thinking about how many activities some parents sign their kids up for. She’s signed up for two swimming classes – vital, as my in-laws have a swimming pool that is not fenced off from the rest of their back yard, and an acting class.

My basic goal is just to have something special for her to do when school is not in session. There are a variety of classes I want her to take as she gets older, such as some sort of self defense, but mostly I want it to be things she chooses to take.

However, you always hear about parents who complain that they have no time for themselves because they’re spending so much time running from activity to activity with their kids. That can be a symptom of overparenting.

Take a look at what your kids do. Do they have time for themselves or are they always in some sort of formal activity? Think back to your own childhood. Maybe that was how you were raised or maybe you had lots of free time to be yourself.

Free time to themselves is one of the gifts you can give your children. They need to know how to entertain themselves. There is nothing wrong with letting your kids play in the backyard or even in the front yard if they’re old enough and the neighborhood is appropriate.

Remember that if your kids are used to being entertained by other activities, they won’t be able to come up with their own ideas for something to do so easily. That means when they are between activities, you are a lot more likely to get the “Mom, I’m bored!” complaint. A child who is used to playing games, being creative or even just sitting and reading doesn’t get bored quite as easily. Yes, you will still hear the classic complaint, but your child will be more ready to handle quieter time themselves.

Don’t protect them too much from failure either. Let them suffer consequences as neccessary. Kids really aren’t as fragile as many parents think. My daughter gets so mad at me when I tell her to do something herself when she’s insisting that she cant’. I’m not talking about tying her shoes… she’s only 4, after all, and it will be time soon enough for that one. I’m talking about days when she wants me to draw a circle for her because she doesn’t think she can, or rather, doesn’t want to. The frustration is very good for her. How fast would she learn to draw circles if I did all of them for her?

Let your children suffer frustration, fail at tasks they are trying to learn. Let them be embarrassed sometimes. Children get over these problems more easily if they are familiar. You know that as an adult you fail sometimes, get frustrated and even get embarrasses. You learned to deal with that as a child. Do your children the same favor. Don’t make their lives too easy or overly managed.

Got around to adding more deals to my Bargain section. I must admit, it’s a bit tedious at times finding things to put there, but then it’s lots of fun when I find a really good one. There are some really great deals out there.

Now that my schedule should be smoothing out (no more birthday parties to plan for a while!), I’m hoping to work on that one about once a week. The big changes will likely come at the start of each month, as that’s when many companies change their offers.

This is yet another section of this site that you can subscribe to using an RSS feed. I suppose I could transition the whole thing over, but I’d really rather not. It would be quite a bit of trouble and would mean changing all my links around. Besides, this allows me to emphasize the availability of feeds in certain areas.

For those who haven’t noticed the feeds, there are feed available for this blog, my unresearched work at home job findings, my forum and the bargain section. These are all separate feeds, so you only subscribe to those that hold your interest.

Many of the feeds already have links coded so that all you have to do is click on the link to add the feed to your My Yahoo, My MSN or Google home page. Those make it pretty easy to keep up with the happenings in areas that interest you.

EVerything went really well today. Not as many classmates were able to come as I had hoped, but I was so late getting the invitations out that it really wasn’t a surprise.

It always amazes me how surprised other moms are that I make my children’s birthday cakes. I don’t think it’s that hard, especially since I just use the cake mix, and buy the frosting in a spray can to do the decorations. It looks like more work than it is, really.

Ariel’s out with my husband now to choose her pet. We gave her a cage and told her she could pick the critter for it. Looks like it will most likely be a mouse. That’s what my husband favors, and every times he starts to say she’d like a hamster, all he has to say is “but Cinderella has mice” and she wants a mouse.

I have the cleanup mostly done already and the dishwasher running. Ariel loves most of her gifts. She’s got a lot of crafting supplies, which was deliberate because with summer coming she will constantly be asking me if she can do “projects.” With the supplies we now have on hand, we’ll be able to do quite a few.

Now it’s time to kick back and relax. Have to get back to my regular work on Monday, but I refuse to drive myself too hard today. I’m just too worn out from the party.

I’ve mentioned Google Pack before, but I’m going to recommend it again for those who missed it. Why? I love the software it offers. Some of it is useful, but some of it is just plain fun.

A free, six month subscription to Norton Antivirus falls under useful, certainly. If you don’t have an up to date antivirus running right now, this alone should be enough reason to download Google Pack this instant! Leaving your computer open to viruses is just dangerous to your computer. It also offers the free version of AdAware, which takes care of most of the spyware. Not all – no matter which antispyware you use, I recommend getting a second one to double check. None of them get all the spyware.

Google Earth is both fun and useful. Ariel, at 4 years old, already loves to look at different places with it. She has even learned to use the controls pretty well. This can be great if your kids are learning geography – they can see these places on more than a four color map. You can also show them places you are going to go on vacation – the Grand Canyon is really amazing on Google Earth, for example.

Picasa is a nice little photo organizer with some editing capabilities. Digital cameras are so common now I’m sure lots of you have pictures you could work on.

The one download I’ve always tended to skip is Google Desktop. It helps you find things on your computer, but I’ve just never needed help in that area. My computer is better organized than my paper files.

Google Talk looks fun, although I’ve never actually tried it. You can IM or talk to other people over your computer. It’s not a phone service, though.

If you like the way this sounds, you can see my link for it down on the left.

We bought a table from them and recieved it about a month and a half ago. On delivery, we noted, and the delivery driver noted, that there was a problem with a loose part on the leaf. He filed a report and I called it in as well, as he told me to do. Well, at two weeks out I called and the customer service rep said it took 7-10 business days to get an appointment for someone to come out and look. I pointed out that two weeks is 10 business days, but that didn’t matter to him. He told me to wait a bit longer.

Well, my own fault, but I waited another two weeks before calling. This time the girl faxed a new report to the repair department and we got a callback a couple days later. The tech came out about a week and a half later, and after a few moments of looking said we would get a call in a week to either replace the leaf or the entire table.

It has now been about a week and a half, so I called. The girl on the phone this time said they can’t do anything until they get the report in their system, and they can’t even check on it until it has been two weeks since the tech was out.

Is it just me or is this ridiculous?

I am so furious with them right now. This kind of customer service is utterly unacceptable to me. They have not kept to the promised scheduling to handle this problem at all.

Overall, I’d say this is pretty good news. As you probably know, childhood obesity has become a major problem in this country. Quite simply, a large number of children are obese at young ages.

A deal has been made that will keep the largest soda companies from selling sodas on most school campuses. As a matter of fact, they’re limiting elementary and middle schools to water, milk and unsweetened juice. High schools will be able to have sports drinks and diet sodas.

This goes well with the number of states starting to be concerned about how they have been feeding children at school. Many of them have realized that the school lunches they provide just aren’t that healthy. It’s so easy to give kids unhealthy food, but the long term consequences are terrible not only for the kids but for our society. It costs a lot of money to take care of people whose health is poor due to obesity.

Now, I’m not one to say we need to make laws limiting what people can eat. However, I see no reason for schools to encourage bad habits.

Even as a stay at home mom, it’s very easy to feel like just grabbing some fast food or cooking something easy but unhealthy. Fortunately, I have the fast food down to once a month or less, and I’ve found that if I don’t buy junk food I don’t eat it or give it to my family. That’s one of the easiest ways to eat healthy. I buy sodas only for birthday parties and such, which means I can go a long time without having any sodas. I have water in the fridge.

Getting over bad eating habits will benefit you and your family for a lifetime. Why not follow in the schools’ and soda companies’ footsteps and try sharply limiting your family’s soda intake?